Nick Komar’s “Biggest Year” in USA Birding - 2023

Pelagic birds are ocean-dwelling birds that are rarely seen from land. These birds are not well known by most land-dwelling birders, me included. They are probably the group of species least understood by ornithologists. In fact, more and more species within this group are being recognized by taxonomists. This is due to their preference for marine regions, their tendency to nest on remote islands and their cryptic plumages. Few are brightly marked, such as the three species of Puffin. Most are drably plumaged, making identification challenging. This is especially true for the Shearwaters, Petrels and Storm-Petrels and many of the Alcids as well.   There are roughly 30 species of pelagic species that I will need to find this year. I saw some of these from the La Jolla Sea Watch in January (Black-vented Shearwater) and the Point Pinos Sea Watch near Monterey in March (Black-legged Kittiwake, Common Murre and Pigeon Guillemot). Some I saw from the boat ride across the Santa Cruz Channel o

Many birders develop a home birding area where they really get to know the local birdlife. This home area is known in birding terms as a “local patch”. My patch is Larimer County, in north-central Colorado. This means that during most years I spend most of my birding time within Larimer County. It is a rather large local patch, almost the size of Rhode Island! A patch doesn’t need to be so large. It can be as small as your nearby birding hotspot or even your back yard. Larimer County is a great place to live If you are a birder. The principal cities of the county are Fort Collins, Loveland, Estes Park and Berthoud and they all, along with the county itself, have done a great job in establishing parks and natural areas where birding is welcome. The county is also home to Roosevelt and Arapaho National Forests and Rocky Mountain National Park. The variety of habitats in these natural areas include mountain peaks, major rivers and prairie grasslands. The county hosts the largest  number o

North American grouse species are among the most difficult order of birds to see in North America. They are large birds but because of their status as upland game birds, they have learned to avoid humans and adopt stealthy behaviors. Their plumage allows them to blend into their surroundings perfectly.        To see all 27 species in the order Galliformes, which includes typical grouse, pheasants and quail, I will need to visit Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Minnesota and Nevada. However, the largest number of these species can be found in Colorado because of this state’s centralized position on the North American continent.  In fact, Colorado in April has long been a popular birding destination among birders keen on adding many of the Galliformes (up to 13 species) to their life list in one trip. During the spring mating season, many of the grouse species form social leks where males dance and strut and generally show off for females which gather to select a suitable mate to fer

  March 21 At 2:45 AM, Joe Kipper picked up my friend Scott Rashid and me in his vintage Jeep Cherokee with license plates that read GYRFLCN and dropped us off at Denver International Airport at 4:30 AM for our 6:30 AM Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. By 9 AM we were rolling in our rented Nissan Rogue mini-SUV. First stop was Veterans Oasis Park in Chandler, a Phoenix suburb. What a great park, with managed desert habitat and a series of lakes. A Rufous-backed Robin, a stray from Mexico had been spotted here about 10 days earlier and reported to eBird. No luck with that, but we did spot 49 other species here in 2.5 hours, a good start to our week-long trip through Southeast Arizona. New Year-Birds were Gila Woodpecker (487), Dusky Flycatcher (488) and Lucy’s Warbler (489). I then guided us to my favorite location for Bendire’s Thrasher at Red Mountain Park in Mesa, AZ at the eastern edge of the Phoenix metropolis. New Year-Birds were Gilded Flicker (490) and o